Hallowe'en used to be just a fun holiday for kids, giving them an excuse to dress up as monsters, witches, ghosts, vampires, devils and even animals. In recent years however, some well-meaning people among the devout who let their dogmas run loose without a leash have started taking all the fun out of it, attributing it to "satanic" rituals and "dark magic."

Let me put Hallowe'en into some historic perspective – as well as a lot of other fall traditions. The only "magic" these fall festivals were celebrating was the "magic" that happened when someone put seeds into the ground and a few months later, came back to find they had produced something edible and tasty.

Before the early Christian missionaries got hold of it and started calling it "All Hallow's Eve" (the day before the All Saints Feast on November 1^st), October 31^st was an old Celtic holiday known as Samhain (pronounced "SAW-one" – go figure). In its origins, this was the day that marked the end of the "light half" of the year when crops were planted and harvested and the beginning of the "dark half" of the year – when it was time to start storing the produce and getting ready for a long, cold winter.

Keep in mind that these ancient Celts were not necessarily scientific-minded people (though some claim the Druids were, but thanks to the Romans who pretty much wiped them out, there isn't a whole lot of evidence of what Druids believed). They weren't clear on the physical reasons for the seasonal changes, such as the tilt of the planet as it went around the sun. They only knew it happened.

Likewise, they didn't quite understand how a seed produced an edible plant or what made for a successful crop. In those days before scientific farming methods, agriculture could be an uncertain thing. Among other beliefs, these ancient Celts – whose descendants are the Irish, Scots, Welsh and Bretons – thought that on the night of Samhain, the spirits of the departed could reach out from the next world and bring blessings – or wreak nine kinds of havoc. Thus, the traditions of bonfires to welcome friendly spirits and wearing scary masks to scare off malevolent ghosts came about.

The Scots and Irish, whose descendants are the second-largest ethnic group in the U.S., brought these old traditions with them – though by then (after the mid-1600s), it was mainly for fun and celebrating a plentiful harvest.

One of the reasons I particularly like this time of year is that it's when the apple harvest comes in. It's just not worth eating apples in any other season, any more than a winter tomato is going to be any good  at all. You're liable to find apple festivals all over the country this month as well as other kinds of fun activities that you're only going to find on the farm, such as corn mazes, hayrides and pumpkin patches (this is the time of year for them). This year, celebrate the fall by visiting your local pick-your-own apple orchard and taste what your missing (hint: red so-called "delicious" is barely worthy of the name – but you'll find some wonderful exotic varieties such as the spitzenberg, pacific rose and staymen winesap that will show you what a fresh apple is supposed to be).